"Nothing To Lose, Everything To Gain"

“If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39, NLT)

“Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” (Luke 9:23-25, NLT)

“After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31, NLT)

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NLT)

The thing about meekness is that nobody can ever truly see the meekness in someone else’s heart, or even their own heart. It’s not like you can outdo someone else in showing meekness. It just doesn’t make sense. But we can, in an effort to have more meekness, learn how to spot false meekness in ourselves.

Just as federal agents study real money in order to better identify what is counterfeit, it’s vital for us to see what real humility is so we can spot the fake version in ourselves. Let’s face it—when it comes to humility in the Christian community, we can be master manipulators. We like outward appearances to be nice and neat, to be seen as gentle “Oh bless your heart” kind of people. But that’s not the life we’re called to.

Jesus tells us that the call on a believer’s life is to pick up our cross, die to ourselves, and be willing to lose it all for his name’s sake. And when we die to ourselves, we don’t become more polite; we become more obedient, convicted, and bold than ever before. In the Bible, we rarely see the apostles pray for physical safety and security. In fact, they often prayed to the Lord for more boldness. I wonder, if we took inventory of the church’s prayers, or even of our own, what percentage would go to praying for more boldness as opposed to safe travels and blessings for our food?

A mustang who has given all their freedom, autonomy, and power in service of their master has in fact gained more of all of those things. God chooses the mustang-like among us for bold purposes because we understand this trade-off. A wild mustang doesn’t start with anything. In fact, he is branded and discarded to life in a cage because his hardened exterior, forged by a life of adversity, looks more like a liability. And left alone, that kind of reckless wild can be exactly that—a liability.

But a wild spirit who has nothing to lose but everything to gain? That is the rare person who lays down all their pride, submits to the Lord, willingly picks up their cross, follows his lead, and says, “Your will, not mine.” It is the mustang spirit that Jesus was looking for in his followers. Because when you have lost everything but a cause to fight for and someone to serve, you’re not even thinking about yourself enough to feel fear, and you really do have everything to gain.